Write & Shine
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Autumn Season



Join us for a set of vibrant events this autumn

Our autumn programme is here! From September to November, we’ll host workshops, retreats and events capturing this season of calm and stillness, falling leaves and the balance between dark and light.

The season also explores the joy of language, celebrates world literature and considers the power, politics and inspiration of words in our lives—and in our writing.

Balance

Wednesday 22 September (6.45-7.45pm) & Thursday 23 September (7.15-9am)

An event of two halves marking the start of autumn. Join us for an evening gathering as the sun pauses momentarily for autumn equinox. Then, set your alarm to join the group again for a morning workshop on light and dark and restoring balance in our writing lives.
Book here

Listening

Tuesday 28 September (7.15-9am)

Creativity and listening are at the heart of this workshop. We’ll consider the role of sound and quiet in our writing, and the ways we listen and engage with what we hear. We’ll listen to our inner voices and our characters, and to music and poetry as inspiration for writing.
Book here

Untranslatable

Thursday 30 September (7.15-9am)

In this session, we’ll consider the art of the literary translator and the craft of close reading in one language and writing in another. We’ll play with words, write about inhabiting different languages, as well as words from other cultures that are untranslatable in our own.
Book here

Seeds

Tuesday 5 October (7.15-9am)

This is a fine time of year to plant bulbs and sow seeds ready for spring. In this workshop, we’ll enjoy the sense of the wheel of the year turning, and write about harvests and gardens, flowers and weeds, about planting seeds for our writing to blossom later.
Book here

Autumn Retreat I

Thursday 7 October (7.15-9.30am)

Bring your work in progress or some ideas to explore and write as the light lifts – in the company of a friendly group of writers. You’ll be surprised at how much you can do in a couple of hours!
Book here

Re-tuning

Tuesday 12 October (7.15-9am)

In this session, we’ll meditate on how we can shape our creative lives to the movement of the seasons, with an awareness of how moods, words, memories and sounds resonate anew at this time of year. Using poetry and music to build an autumnal vocabulary, we’ll guide ourselves towards the ideas that will keep us aglow during the darker months. Led by poet Victoria Adukwei Bulley.
Book here

Falling Leaves

Thursday 14 October (7.15-9am)

The full moon this month is known as the ‘Moon of Falling Leaves’ and will be particularly bright in the sky. In this workshop, we’ll write about the changing colours and textures of autumn leaves outside and read poetry capturing these cool, crisp days.
Book here

Speech

Tuesday 2 November (7.15-9am)

Dialogue, dialects and slang. Voice, performance and accents. In this workshop, we’ll write about the phrases or cadences that colour speech—in our conversations and in our writing. As Zadie Smith says, “When I write I am trying to express my way of being in the world.” We’ll try to do the same!
Book here

Great Sentences

Thursday 4 November (7.15-9am)

“If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don’t write,” said Anaïs Nin. We’ll use Nin’s diaries, lectures and stories as a starting point for our own writing. We’ll think about great sentences, wonderful words and how writing energises us to “live in a more heightened way.”
Book here

Writing in Uncertainty

Tuesday 9 November (7.30-8.30am)

Join Gaele Sobott and Gemma Seltzer for an event about writing, creativity and uncertainty. We’ll think about the role uncertainty plays in our writing and how embracing discomfort is an inherent part of the creative process—and of life itself. Free!
Book here

Autumn Retreat II

Tuesday 16 November (7.15-9.30am)

Another chance to bring your work in progress or some new ideas and write as the light lifts – in the company of a friendly group of writers. You’ll be surprised at how much you can do in a couple of hours!
Book here

Constellation

Thursday 18 November (7.15-9am)

As winter approaches, the days are getting shorter making it a perfect time to embrace the dark. In this workshop, we’ll explore comets and constellations, moon cycles and meteors. We’ll read poems and stories that attempt to capture the language of the night sky.
Book here

Calligraphy

Tuesday 23 November (7.15-9am)

Join a unique morning writing workshop with artist Rosalind Wyatt. Trained in calligraphy, bookbinding and textiles at the RCA, Rosalind will lead the group through creative exercises that explore the ways in which words, stories, calligraphy and cloth meet.
Book here

Body & Language

Thursday 25 November (7.15-9am)

Language is not just about words, but about music and rhythm, sound and texture. With song, sign language, braille and body language as inspiration, we’ll close the autumn season with a joyful workshop on the body and movement, communication and language.
Book here